Isla Biodiversity Conservation, Inc.

The Calayan Rail project team, assisted by volunteers from the Calayan Youth Association and Barangay Magsidel, conducted seminars focusing on watersheds on 27 August – 5 September 2006 in all seven barangays in Calayan Island. These activities were carried out in response to calls for seminars on the importance of nature raised during the community consultations in May (read related story) and formed part of the Conservation Action Plan.

Attendance in each of the seminars ranged from 15-42 participants, which were composed of barangay officials, and representatives from farmer's organizations, women's organizations, livestock associations, health workers, spring development organizations, and other community members. Representatives from the LGU were present during the seminars in 3 barangays while representatives from the DENR joined in 5 of the 7 seminars. Participants were satisfied with new concepts learned in the seminar and were happy with the use of fun experiential activities in teaching. The seminar modules were developed by project team members who attended the Project WET and Project Learning Tree programs in May (read related story). A total of 185 community members benefited from the seminars and each was given a Calayan’s Natural Treasures 2007 calendar as a token of appreciation.

At the end of each seminar, the project team gave a report on the progress of items in the May 2006 Conservation Action Plan. In addition, they validated the willingness of each barangay to help establish and join the proposed Calayan Environment Council, a Calayan-based multi-sectoral council that would formulate policies and implement programs for the conservation of Calayan’s natural environment. All seven barangays were interested to become part of the Calayan Environment Council.

Since volunteers from the Calayan Youth Association and from Barangay Magsidel were involved in conducting the seminars, local residents had opportunities to develop their skills in organizing, facilitating, evaluating, data encoding, and photo and video documentation during the seminars.